Eliza's Retreat -- East End St.Croix

Here is look at the property, which will hopefully be ours by the end of October.


The town of Christiansted can be seen in the distance...

The Rainforest, etc...

Scott enjoys "Mamawanna," an elixir, which is made by Norma, the proprietor of the Domino Club. (It's a sippin' shot!)

This is "Grunt," one the famous beer drinkin' pigs of St.Croix. No need to call PETA; these guys are on a strict O'Douls (non-alcoholic) diet.


The only "animal," who opens a cold beer with the same amount of unbridled enthusiasm, is Scott.

West End of St.Croix

Ah, dancing after dinner at St.Tropez. My lovely partner is Danielle, the owner. You can also catch a glimpse of her son, Chef Olivier. They have an "acrimonious" working relationship...












A rain shower in the distance...
Sunsets are awesome at Rainbow beach! On Sundays, they have live reggae music.
Sunset + Beer + Reggae = Good Times!








Scott enjoys the frosty goodness of a Painkiller...He went on to enjoy many different local refreshments.

The beaches on the west side of the island are fabulous! This particular location, Sandy Point, hosts hundreds of nesting sea turtles each summer.

Another factoid about Sandy Point: it is immortalized in the movie, Shawshank Redemption. Remember at the end, when they meet in Mexico? That scene was actually filmed on this very beach!

The Eye of the Hurricane, OR NOT!!

Well, it sure has been a long time since we've put anything up on the old blog. Fortunately, (after a year-long vacation hiatus) we are about to embark on a Caribbean adventure. Scott and I will be traveling throughout the USVIs--St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico for the first two weeks in September.
Currently, we are out of any fresh tropical pictures for you to enjoy. However, here is a shot from St. John 1999...

Sharks, monkeys and a baby jaguar

¡Buenos Tardes Amigos!

I hope that this entry makes sense, seeing as we´ve had very little sleep in the past couple of days. After a couple of typhoon style days on the Caye, the clouds finally parted and we were treated to tropical bliss.

Scott and I decided to celebrate the sunshine with a day sail/snorkel trip. Our boat was called the Regga King and our crew referred to our time at sea as an "alcoholiday". The waters off of Belize are clear and beautiful and we saw some incredible fish and sea life. I think that Scott has conquered his fear of all things "ocean" and actually enjoyed being part of the underwater world!

Yesterday afternoon, right after our morning bike ride, we boarded the ferry back to mainland Belize, and after an uneventful ride in a non-crackhead taxi to the airport, we hopped on a little plane to Flores. More on that tommorrow though... I let the camera´s battery run down, and it just died while we were uploading all our new pictures... oops. Look forward to some more soon...

Rain, beer and lobster, mon!

Gianni and the iguana we found in his pool
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Our quarters















La cucina in the villa















Guess who?















The beach where we saw two sea turtles laying eggs
















Beach in Tulum


















Our highly stressful agenda















Hola Amigo!























Door to door gravel delivery service















Beautiful church in Tekax















Merida- our camera died after this shot















He was really upset after Mexico lost. Again.















Weeeeee















A street in Valladolid















Out for a weekend stroll















View from our bed in Caye Caulker















Streets made of sand




What up Mon(s)!?

We are drying off in an internet cafe on Caye Caulker, Belize. Our wakeup call was the shrill hum of a major wind/rainstorm. I think that we were both sort of relieved, because the inclimate weather gave us the excuse to sleeeeeeeeep in and relax, without the guilt. The caye is pretty small and very tropical, although, you won't see many pictures of it today, due to a rigorous campaign of "camera preservation." Everyone will just have to wait until we see the sun and/or go crazy with cabin fever.

The trip down to Belize City was entertaining. After we dropped off our beater car in Cancun, we boarded a luxury bus en route to Chetumal (a border town). Our ride was quite swanky as it included comfy reclining seats, a free soda, air-conditioning, movies (in Spanish) and an awesome bathroom-- much bigger than the ones on an airplane.

When we went to board our second bus, the one which would take us to BC, we were very surprised to see an old American school bus pull up. "Hmmm", we both thought in unison. It turned out OK, we ate some spicy plantain chips, got some leg cramps, and I managed to make a complete fool of myself. You see, there was a cute toddler in the seat in front of us-- so cute that I complimented the mother on her "beautiful baby girl." She thanked me and then said "it's a boy." Scott was grinning from ear to ear.

After a few "crack-head" encounters in Belize City, we finally boarded our water taxi and reached the island. Our first order of business was food, so we filled up on lobster at the Rainbow Grill. Last night, we enjoyed alot of reggae and Belikin (the beer of Belize) at the Oceanside bar. Hopefully, the "I 'n I" bar will have some live reggae this evening (the seats there are actually swings).

In the mean time, please enjoy the pictures from the first part of the trip in Tankah, etc...

Flamingos, potholes y la ruta puuc

Traditional Mayan woman


When's the last time you saw a dead bat?


Ruins are cool


And we thought the Romans were creative...


Awwww

The current inhabitant of Labná



Glad vertigo didn´t kick in

Palaco Norté



Scott praying to the God of "longevity"


Kabah


One of the guys farms honey in the jungle which is delicious!


Hey, watch your hand mister


Most villagers live in thatched huts


Almost like the roads at home, except smaller


Woohoo!


Never did rain that day


Yes, another sunset-from our balcony


Boats in Célestun


Muchos Flamencos

¡Buenos tardes hombres!

A highlight of our trip was the Ruta Puuc, the road which connects some of the most beautiful Mayan sites in Mexico. We explored the ruins of Labná, Sayil, and Kabah, and since these are a bit off of the beaten track, we could climb anywhere we wanted. I think we saw a total of 5 people, including Mayans...

After the Ruta Puuc, we traversed the Yucatan peninsula and now find ourselves on the west coast in a village called Célestun. Our trip here was quite an adventure, seeing as we took the proverbial shortcut and found out that our map was not exactly always exact to say the least. Please note, that even if a map states that a road is of adequate quality, it could mean that it is actually a one and a half lane jungle path with more potholes than cement... and did we mention the mosquitos?

Aside from the excitement of not having to change a flat tire, there were also those moments when we suddenly ended up in a village and the road we were on just sort of stopped. It´s always interesting to try to communicate with someone who only sees a white person once every leap year. Other than money-pronounced "mohnee" (see the picture with the kids) and "thank you", we were basically limited to our combined 20 word and 5 phrase vocabulary. Nevertheless, clicks, hand-gestures, and a guy with only one good foot (on a rickshaw) pointed us in the right direction.

Tomorrow we set off for Mérida, the cultural center of the Yucatan. Our goal is to get up at 6 AM and take off...Any bets?

Tacos, cervezas y federales

Stained glass adorning the iglesia next to our hotel

I love the sunset...

Another view of the main plaza

I took this from our balcony, the rickshaw survives!

It seems that Jesus is ashamed of his body

Church of St.Francis in Oxkutzcab, pronounced O-sh-kutz-cab

Feel like we're back home!

¡Buenos noches compadres!

Unfortunately, we left the memory card, with the last two days captured on it, back at the Hotel San Antonio - so in order to keep up with our comings and goings, pretend like we just kinda "showed up" in the middle of the Yucatan. Our pictures of Tan-Kah, Tulum and Casa de Jonny will be posted whenever we get around to it...

We left the Riviera Maya this morning and ended up here in Ticul. From what we were told by our SUPER friendly waiter, Coco, we were two of the ten Americans this year that vacation, here, in the middle of nowhere. I guess the Germans and Italians are the real connoisseurs of Mayan ruins. Oh well. More carne asada for us!

The big drama of the day unfolded when we were stopped by the federales on the way out of Quintana Roo (a state in Mexico)...A dude, not a day older than 17, came up to Scott's window and started rambling on in Español. Needless to say, we understood zero words, and I decided that it would be a good idea to just hand him our dictionary...he started laughing. They checked our trunk and Scott thinks that they let us go because of my incessant, unintelligible questions about the ruins, the weather, his family, etc...(In broken Spanish, of course.)

Tomorrow morning, we are eating desayuno (breakfast) by the light of the big screen tv. Greco´s, a cafe across from the main plaza, is showing the Mexico vs. Portugal match at 9 am...Wonder if we´ll make it?